Trying to find out if I have a wierd problem or what.

My Vehicle is a 04 Ram quad cab slt Hemi with ONLY 31,600 miles I am the original owner

I found a 6 inch pool of power steering fluid under my truck so I took it in to the dealer.

$1,200 later I have a new rack and pinion under the truck..That was last week. This morning I find more power steering fluid under my truck so back to the dealer I go. I thought maybe they didn't tighten a fitting or something. No such luck, now they tell me I need a whole new pump,resivor and hoses. Another $600+ dollars.

I can't beleive these parts all need replacing after only 31,600 miles.

Anyone else have a problem with their rack and pinion or power steering pump??

The parts mgr said he will call chrysler and talk to them about it and see "what they can do" for me???

I guess I won't be buying a dodge after this one!!!

 

I had a puddle to, turns out to be a loose hose connector. Those clamps are garbage. I did have a P/S pump go out under warranty though. I believe others will chime in that this is one of the weak links on our ram. However you should be under some warranty right. Isnt it 36kmi. Get it done at an independent garage it will be 1/2 the price more then likely.

 

My rack on my truck is leaking a little bit, also the hoses.

 

You went through the dealer? I just replaced my rack & pinion, hoses, clamps, the works and it ran me $653 for parts, labor and alignment.

 

Ain't no way you should have had a rack go at 31k miles. Me thinks the stealership saw you coming. Now I believe Pyro had well over 100k miles on his truck. Rack & Pinion anywhere over about 90k much more plausible.
Dodge trucks are notorious for cheazy hose clamps and cheap hoses, all over, not just on the rack. Hell, almost everybody gets a CEL for evaporator system problems starting at 30-40k miles and it's the same issue. Failed clamps or cracked hoses.
My guess without seeing the truck is you had a bad clamp or two from the get go, and when they put the rack in, they cranked down on the clamps, buying you a little time until they started to leak again.
The new hoses and clamps would have probably fixed you up from the start...

 

My rack and pinion went out on my truck with about 40K on it. The dealer quoted me 1200 and I took it to another place and they double checked to make sure it was the R&P leaking and not just a hose. They replaced it for 550 out the door but did not replace any hoses, 7 months later started to drip again took it back to the same place and they replaced a hose and charged me 40 bucks for labor, the hose was 60 from the dealer though.

 

i dont think its too early, even if he does have really low miles for a 04. but you should be under warranty? dont you have a 8/80? thats what mine has and i extended it when i bought the truck used. but its true you prolly just needed a new hose and clamp, cant trust the dealers anymore, its a damn shame. looks like you got hosed, but its not unlikely that the rack really did need to be replaced, i replaced my left one at about 34k and the right one at 40k along with the pump, i also went through the whole p/s leak as well.

 

My rack went after 184,000 km finally...blew the seal right out the side one night when it was like -35. Even ran the pump dry for the 5 minute drive home and she still maintains pressure, bit whiny though. My suggestion: **** getting new hoses from dodge, get some steel braided lines with AN style fittings.

 

I've got an 04 with 37,000 miles and I started getting the puddle about a month ago. Turns out it was the clamp on the one hose. One $0.99 clamp later it was as good as new.